THE Bloomsbury Set and their Sussex base Charleston Farmhouse are set to be featured as part of a new TV drama called Life In Squares. Susan Griffin spoke to one of the stars James Norton about shooting in Sussex, filming intimate love scenes and his love of period romps.
It's one of the hottest days of the year, so James Norton couldn't be more relieved to be rid of the chops and long hair he was required to have for a new adaptation of War And Peace.
"We wrapped yesterday so I've just come from the hairdressers," the 30-year-old said.
Not only is his new fuzz-free look more comfortable in the heat, it means he's less self-conscious too.
"You're walking down the street thinking, 'I look normal', and then suddenly you catch yourself in a car window and you realise, 'Oh God, I have silly chops', which are just so dated and really unfashionable."
It's not the first time he's had to sport the retro look having appeared in the likes of Belle, Death Comes To Pemberley and Mr Turner.
Last year, he shot Lady Chatterley's Lover, which is due to air this autumn. He likes a period romp then?
"I do, I do," said Norton, with a laugh. "But there's a lot of period drama being made and it's great for young British actors like myself. Something like War And Peace was one you couldn't say no to because it's so special, it's just magnificent, so rich.
"Period pieces are usually those big, epic novels, but the reason they're big and well-known is because they're fantastic, so it's no bad thing to be doing period work."
His latest project is Life In Squares, an intimate drama for BBC Two, written by Bafta-winning Amanda Coe, which examines the revolutionary Bloomsbury Group who famously 'lived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles'.
The group was an influential collection of English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists, with members including writer Virginia Woolf, economist John Maynard Keynes, novelist E. M. Forster and writer and critic Lytton Strachey.
The friends and in some cases lovers lived and worked together near Bloomsbury, London, and also at their Sussex retreat at Charleston Farmhouse, near Firle.
Located at the foot of the Downs, their country retreat was a meeting place for the group for half a century after Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant moved there in 1916.
He said: "I knew a little bit about them, but then you hear about their values and how they stood for free love and bohemian living, and the more you delve, the more fascinating it becomes.
"They were living by their own rules, but they were also a little bit messed up. It was flawed. There was quite a lot of pain and angst, along with the wonderful joy and free-spiritedness which came with it."
Shot in London and Charleston Farmhouse, it follows the collection of friends and lovers who were pioneers of artistic and sexual freedom, including the often fraught relationship between painter Vanessa Bell, her sister Virginia Woolf, and Vanessa's complicated alliance with gay artist Duncan Grant, played by Norton.
It has already been described as one of the raunchiest period dramas of recent times and Norton has his fair share of romps on screen, notably with Ben Lloyd-Hughes, who plays David 'Bunny' Garnett, a bisexual writer and publisher with whom Duncan had an affair.
"I'm actually mates with Ben and we've played lovers before," said Norton, who adds that he does not find sex scenes nerve-racking.
"You make it uncomfortable if you handle it in an insensitive way, but I don't find it awkward. You build up a lot of trust. It's a lot to do with the company and the crew. Someone like Simon [Kaijser, the director] is very sensitive and doesn't make a big deal about it. It's just part of the show and I think he handled the sex really well."
That said, he does admit it can seem a little surreal once they've finished filming the scene. "The thing is, with a guy and a girl, there's a way of sort of flirting or laughing your way out of it, but with a guy and a guy, particularly the first time Ben and I did it, I do remember huffing and immediately talking about football."
Norton believes roles like Duncan "teach you about your own life". As he explained: "He sees the best in people. He's so likeable and personable and loved by everyone.
"We're fascinated by the fringes of humanity - the middle section, which most of us live in, is fairly mundane. Duncan and Tommy both live on either extreme."
Tommy was the psychopath who taunted Sarah Lancashire's policewoman in the TV series Happy Valley and earned Norton a Bafta nomination.
He calls the contemporary show his "antidote" to all the period work and he will be reprising the character in a second series.
This will be shot later this year, after filming has finished on another run of Grantchester, in which he appears as a vicar opposite Robson Green.
Rather like Jamie Dornan in The Fall, the handsome actor earned a legion of fans, despite playing such a dubious character as Tommy.
"One of the more shocking things coming out of social media, was quite young girls saying, 'Take me to your cellar'. That was weird," he said. "That was the only slightly sinister reaction though. Everyone warned me that I'd get batted round the head on the street, but the hair makes a huge difference, as I dye it for the role."
The son of two teachers, Norton was brought up in Yorkshire and attended Ampleforth College, but despite an interest in acting, he studied theology at Cambridge University.
"I was very keen on the psychology of religion and philosophy," he said. "There were some people who studied theology from a religious perspective, and some who studied it as outsiders, from an academic perspective. I was very much on the academic side."
On leaving, he went travelling before enrolling at RADA, and graduated in 2010 with a bit part in An Education to his name.
He is not necessarily heading off to Hollywood any time soon, he said. "I'd rather just do some good independent writing. I don't pine for a big franchise. I'd much rather do something smaller budget."
He might make an exception if the producers of Bond come calling, however.
"That is a childhood dream, but there are a hundred other Damien Lewises and Idris Elbas out there, so I don't know.
"What's great is to blend things like Grantchester with things like War And Peace, where you get to immerse yourself for six months in Russian history and the Napoleonic wars, and then you do something like Happy Valley and you get to immerse yourself in psychopathy. You sort of fall in love with the characters and their world.
"I'm very lucky to be doing what I want to do, and as long as your life isn't riddled with regret, I think getting older is OK."
- Life In Squares begins on BBC Two on Monday, July 27 at 9pm.
HISTORY OF CHARLESTON HOUSE
ARTISTS Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant moved into Charleston in 1916.
Over half a century, the farmhouse was a base for the Bloomsbury Set which, made up of artists, intellectuals and thinkers including the likes of Clive Bell, David Garnett, John Maynard Keynes and Virginia Woolf.
The house, now open to the public, had lavish interiors and the artists decorated the walls, doors and furniture.
There is also a spectacular walled garden redesigned in a style reminiscent of southern Europe, with mosaics, box hedges, gravel pathways and ponds.
The house hosted great social occasions but it was also a place of great creativity.
Visitors to the house in the first half of the 20th century recalled a mess of paints, clay, glue and manuscripts as the inhabitants mixed hedonism with creativity.
Located in the shadow of the Downs near Firle, it acted as a welcome retreat from the hustle and bustle of Bloomsbury in the capital where the group also spent a lot of time.
The Bloomsbury Set was one of the most influential group of thinkers of the 20th century and their work influenced literature, aesthetics, criticism, and economics as well as attitudes towards feminism, pacifism, and sexuality.
Today the house is open to visitors with 23,000 each year. The house also features workshops, talks and an annual festival.
Visit charleston.org.uk.
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